Westinghouse Electric Company, Sanmen Nuclear Power Company, Shandong
Nuclear Power Company, State Nuclear Power Engineering Company and China
Nuclear Industry Fifth Construction Company have together installed
eight reactor coolant pumps (RCPs) at the world’s first AP1000 nuclear
power plant units under construction in China. The complex process was
improved by 11 days thanks to the return on experience gained from the
first RCP installation at Sanmen Unit 1 in Zhejiang Province to the
final RCP at Haiyang Unit 1 in Shandong Province.

The eight RCPs – four at each site – were installed between January and
April. The first RCP installation at Sanmen Unit 1 in January took 30
days to complete. A key component to the improved installation time was
the application of lessons learned and best practices at each of the
subsequent RCP installations. Performance improved with each RCP
installation, with the final RCP installation taking only 19 days at
Haiyang Unit 1 – a 37 percent reduction in installation time.

“The successful completion of these highly complex installations without
any safety-related incidents or quality issues is a significant
milestone for our AP1000 projects,” said Jeff Benjamin, Westinghouse
senior vice president, New Plants and Major Projects. “The experiences
we’ve gained from these RCP installations to improve installation speed
and performance have moved us beyond first-of-kind issues and are
driving us to Nth-of-a-kind delivery for the AP1000 fleet under
construction.”

The RCPs are part of the reactor coolant system that maintains reactor
core cooling and are components of the AP1000 plant’s innovative passive
safety system design. The AP1000 plant design is enhanced by its modular
one-design model, allowing best practices to be incorporated into each
site, which improves delivery performance and consistency in
construction.

The company has already programmed lessons learned from the installation
of these eight RCPs during upcoming RCP installations at Sanmen Unit 2
and Haiyang Unit 2, as well as the four units under construction in the
United States, two at the Vogtle plant in Waynesboro, Ga., and two at
the V.C. Summer plant in Jenkinsville, S.C.